1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor detector for infrared radiation as well as to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor detector for infrared radiation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A semiconductor detector for infrared radiation and a method for manufacturing such a detector are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,949, in which a number of thermal (pyroelectric) detector elements are fashioned in a semiconductor substrate, each element being respectively electrically coupled with a semiconductor circuit that is likewise manufactured in the substrate. For the mechanical support of the detector elements, a layer of electrically insulating material is deposited via openings in the semiconductor substrate, the layer being sufficiently thin so as to provide a thermal resistance that is as high as possible in the direction of the heat flow along the plane of the insulating layer, but sufficiently thick to ensure self-supporting mechanical stability over the comparatively large-surface openings in the semiconductor substrate. A disadvantage of this approach is that the crystalline silicon semiconductor material, that is required for full integration in the manufacture of the read-out circuit structures, is completely etched away underneath the pyroelectrically active elements. Due to the insufficient mechanical stability of the insulating layer that serves for the support of the detector elements, this known method is at best suited (in particular given a larger number of active elements and correspondingly large-surface construction of the opening to be covered) for laboratory samples or semiconductor detectors for infrared radiation constructed for development purposes, but is not suited for a production that can be used in large piece numbers, with a yield at a level which is generally considered as sufficient.